


Holiday Cheer and Holiday Fear

by quinn_alec



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Mild Cursing, Tentacles, implied unsympathetic patton (but not really)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:15:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21838084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quinn_alec/pseuds/quinn_alec
Summary: The dark sides don’t like being excluded from the Christmas celebrations, so they decide to change that.
Kudos: 9
Collections: Sanders Sides Secret Santa 2019





	Holiday Cheer and Holiday Fear

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first time posting a fic here, so i hope it’s okay!

Christmas, the time of year to be with the ones you love. All the sides enjoyed it, and they all gave each other gifts every year. Roman was the earliest to rise, begging the others to wake up so they could open presents together. There was just a few people missing. 

“Dark Sides.” Deceit thoroughly disliked their unofficial title, thrust upon him and Remus without any choice. Alas, he couldn’t change it, since the... others... never listened to him.

Damn. That was the most infuriating thing, that he was just trying to help Thomas, that he was doing his best to be useful, but he got thrown aside like old trash. And it was all because of... Virgil. He missed Virgil.

Remus didn’t mind it so much, even going so far as to design his outfit darker than Roman’s. He thought it was a “majestic title” and that Deceit should be proud of it. Ha ha. Yeah, right.

Nevertheless, Dee and Remus stuck together. Best friends, one could say. How could they not be? Both of them were deemed “bad,” so they really only had each other. _Only since Virgil left,_ the deceitful side thought. _Virgil..._

“Actually, you know what? The way things are isn’t good enough.” said Roman, looking at the room from the far back. “The tinsel is just all over, and the tree isn’t centered.” 

Virgil grunted, lifting the tree with a bit of help from Logan. “Where do you want this to go, Princey?” he grunted. They technically could have just magically moved the tree with a snap, since it **was** the mindscape. But no, Roman insisted they moved it by hand. It was “more realistic,” he told them. 

Roman put his chin in his hand, carefully looking at the surrounding area. “A little to your right, Virge.” Virgil and Logan both stepped slightly to that direction, and Roman clapped his hands joyfully. “That’s perfect!!”

Virgil walked over to Roman, giving him a big hug. “You’re the best, Princey.” Roman smiled widely and wrapped his arms around the smaller side. 

He stopped, feeling Virgil’s hands rubbing on his back. “Virgil, what are you doing?” He heard no response, so he pulled away from the embrace. Rubbing his hand on his back, his smile soon faded. 

“Virgil! You put pine needles on my outfit!” Roman screamed at the quickly escaping side. “Get back here, you nightmare!” He ran off after Virgil, his hands sticky with sap.

Logan smiled. No matter how crazy they might be, he loved those two dorks. They were his best friends, after all. He washed his hands, fixed his tie, and quickly walked into the kitchen, where Patton was waiting. “Alright. Cookie time?”

Deceit felt a pang of sadness in his heart. He knew that he would be left out of another Christmas. Why would he be involved? He was “evil,” and “Thomas shouldn’t listen to him!” That hurt. 

Dee had been holed up in his room, unable to do anything productive. He just couldn’t leave the thought that he’d be shunned, ignored. He heard a gentle knocking on the door. “Come in,” he called out, his voice trailing off. 

Remus stepped in. “Hey, Dee.” His best friend, here to save the day. “Listen, I know you’re not happy about being left out of the other’s party.” Remus began. Deceit tried to speak, but Remus cut him off. “But it’ll be lame anyway! Our party is gonna be so much better. We can... ooh! We could light the tree on fire and stick our d-“

 **”Alright** then,” Deceit said suddenly. “But it _totally_ doesn’t hurt. Why am I any different than them? Because I have scales? Because I’m so ‘scary?’” He started gesturing wildly. “And why... why does...” His voice gave out, and he slouched on the bed. A small tear ran down his face.

Remus saw it and gave his best friend a big hug. “Dee, it’s ok. They don’t deserve you anyway. And I know you miss V-“ 

“Don’t say his name.” Dee cut in, wiping away the tear. “Please.”

Remus nodded and continued. “But eventually that’ll be us. If he could be accepted, we can’t be far behind.” He patted Deceit’s shoulder tenderly, or as tenderly as he could. “I miss my brother too.”

Deceit sniffled. “Thank you, Remus. That _totally_ didn’t help me.” He squeezed Remus tightly before letting him go.

Remus stood up to leave. As he was walking out the door, he turned around and said, “And if they don’t accept us, we can burn them down!” Deceit giggled slightly. He truly did love Remus, and he was a perfect best friend.

Virgil was hiding from Roman in his room. He still wasn’t used to being part of the light sides’ Christmas festivities, but he’d never hesitate to pull a good old-fashioned holiday trick on them. He smiled gently, thinking about how glad he was to finally be part of them. How welcomed he was. 

The smile slid off of his face as the thought of who he’d left. His best friend. _Dec,_ he thought. _I know you can’t hear me, but I just want you to know something. I_ never _stopped feeling guilty._

He got up from his slumped position on his bed, and walked over to his desk. Picking up a piece of paper and a pen, he sat down on his chair. _Dear Declan-_ he wrote, quickly scribbling out Dee’s real name. _Dear Deceit,_

He stopped, realizing he should maybe have asked the others before doing this. He wasn’t sure how they’d react, seeing as Deceit had impersonated the two blue sides and Remus had vibe checked his brother so hard he passed out. 

Once again, he got up from his seat, this time creeping out of his room silently. He was gonna invite the “dark sides” to Christmas, even if... even if it meant his new family hated him.

Remus was having a dilemma. Yes, he wasn’t all that interested in being scolded at the “light side” celebration, but his best bud seemed like he wanted to hang out with them so badly. And there came the problem. Does he stay here and make a better party than the others could ever **dream of,** or does he help out Dee?

He couldn’t decide. Decisions. Decisions decisions decisions. Remus couldn’t take it. He hopped off of his floor and quickly switched the gravity in his room, ramming hard into the ceiling. _Ahhhh._ A nice bit of pain always helped him out. 

Flipping the gravity back and collapsing on his tentacled rug, he thought of an idea. He would go ask his brother if they were welcomed, and if not, barge in anyway! _Yes,_ Remus thought, _this’ll be fun._

Virgil was walking around in a void. Technically, the others were just in Thomas’s “basement,” which was just under the light sides’ home. How funny. The “dark” sides were literally beneath the “light” sides. Oh, the irony.

Virgil sighed. It was pretty cruel how they were treating the others, especially since Dee and Remus were both so nice to Virgil. They would always help him when he got too anxious, and they were so great in their own ways. 

He sniffed in and continued walking. A door began to appear in the distance. He would just snap and be there, but only Roman had that power. He jogged the last little bit, and reached the door, panting lightly.

Virgil took a deep breath in. _It’s going to be okay,_ he thought. He opened the door, and his eyes fluttered shut. He was being transported to the basement.

Remus got up from his floor, the tentacles on his rug trying to hug him down. “No, Leonard! I’ll be back soon, buddy.” He walked out of his room, heading towards The Door, as he had aptly named the door to the void. 

Just as he had reached it, though, it opened without him touching it. A man appeared in front of him. A man he recognized. “V... Virgil?” he whispered.

The anxious side opened his eyes and saw a side with a streak of gray hair standing before him. Remus was there. His friend. “Rem... I’ve sure missed you,” Virgil quietly said with a chuckle. 

The other side tackled him with a hug. Virgil felt multiple tears soak into his jacket. “Oh, Remus,” he said. “Don’t cry.” He was being a colossal hypocrite, though, because his eyes were getting teary as well. How could they not? He was seeing his friend, his best friend, for the first time in so, so long. 

Deceit heard sniffling from the other room. His fear shot through the roof. _Remus,_ he thought. He ran out of his room, rushing to check on his friend. When he got there, he saw not one side- but two. His jaw dropped gently. “Virgil...”

In Thomas’s apartment, Roman was pacing around his room. “The tree is up, the lights, the tinsel,” he mumbled to himself. Everything seemed to be in order.

He peeked his head out of the doorway. Patton was making cookies, while Logan was standing beside the smaller side and holding a towel to wipe up his mess. 

He also saw... a door. **The** Door. And didn’t see Virgil. “Shit, he left us! I knew it, I knew he’d get bored of us eventually, I knew it...” Roman swore, stepping back inside his room.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps. Heavy footsteps, unlike Logan and Patton’s. _Is Virge back?_ Roman thought hopefully. Then he heard a... second set of footsteps? Then a third. He needed to check this out.

He stepped outside slowly, and saw three- three!- sides. One was instantly recognizable from his distance, it was the edgelord that was Virgil. The other two came into view slowly. “Holy shit.” Roman whispered.

Virgil heard a crashing noise, then a loud screaming. “Remus!! It’s really you!” He turned around to see Roman barreling towards his twin, arms outstretched. Virgil stepped out of his path quickly, sharing a glance with Deceit.

Roman wrapped his arms tightly around Remus, squeezing until he couldn’t anymore. Grinning wildly, tears running down his face, he exclaimed, “Remus, I missed you! But why are you back? Is everything okay? Are you-“ 

Remus stopped his brother with a finger to his lips. “I’m fine. Virgil brought us back!” he said with a look of admiration for the former “dark” side.

Roman looked at the other creative side, a puzzled expression on his face. “Us?” he asked. Remus simply pointed to his left, where... Deceit was standing. _Dee._

Roman’s face fell. “Dee, I’m... I’m so sorry.” He spread his arms for a hug. “I get it if you don’t want to hug me, it’s fine-“ He stopped as Deceit hurtled into his arms. 

Roman looked down at the smaller side in his arms. “Dee, you’re always welcome here. I’m sorry if we ever gave off the impression that you weren’t.” He tightened his hold for a few seconds, then let go.

Deceit ran his gloved hand across his face, softly wiping away tears from the harsh scales. He stood in front of Roman awkwardly, not knowing what to say. They both just looked at each other and smiled.

Meanwhile, a million things were rushing through Patton’s head as he darted back into his room. _They’re here, in our house, oh no..._ He ran around his room frantically with the need to make something - and fast.

Logan ducked his head out of the kitchen and saw Roman, Virgil, and... the others? He stepped out, slinging the dirty towel over a rack as he walked away. 

He looked at the small group  
curiously. They didn’t seem to be so much as moving. Tentatively, he walked nearer, catching the attention of Virgil. “Hello there,” Logan said cautiously.

All four of the other sides perked up, looking over at the logical side. Remus spoke first. “Logan!!” He ran into Logan, arms wrapping all the way around him. 

His glasses bent awkwardly as Remus put his head on Logan’s shoulder. “Hello, Remus. It sure has been a while.” He mumbled with a smile. This was one of the few times that Logan was not afraid to show his happiness. 

Roman and Deceit looked on with a soft grin. Virgil, however, looked worried. “Guys, why did Pat run away?” he said, a note of panic in his voice. The eyeshadow under his eyes was starting to darken.

At that exact moment, Patton walked out of his room, hands behind his back. Everyone turned to look at him. “Hey, guys. It’s, uhh.... nice to see you.” 

Remus made a start to run to the moral side, but Deceit stopped him with one of his arms. They shared a look, and Remus’s face fell. It evidently wasn’t safe.

Patton looked at them, a slight tinge of fear in his eyes. He stepped back. “No, no, it’s okay! I’m... I’m so glad you’re back.” he said, tears filling his eyes.

Deceit narrowed his eyes, his tongue forking in and out. He would not allow Patton to hurt them. He would not. “How can I trust you?”

Patton sniffled, and pulled out the objects from behind him. They were boxes, beautifully wrapped in wrapping paper, each with a little bow on them. “I made you gifts. See, I didn’t know you were coming, and so I didn’t make you anything, and I’m so sorry-“

Deceit cut him off with a hug. “Thank you, Patton. This is the best Christmas gift I could ever wish for.” 

Patton hugged him back, wrapping the arms of his cardigan around Dee’s shoulders. Remus screamed, “Group hug!”, and all six of them were suddenly in a pile on the floor. This was the best Christmas they had ever had, and it was all because they were together.

**_epilogue_ **

“Remus! Stop eating the tree!”

It was two years after that fateful holiday. Two years after dark and light were no more. There were just... Sides. And it was wonderful.

The former dark side of creativity looked down at his brother guiltily, swallowing what he had in his mouth. A single pine needle fell off his lips. “Sorry, but it’s so tempting! Look at how green it is...”

Roman sighed, and used his stretchy arms to pull his goatlike brother off of the tree. Remus launched himself off, colliding with Roman and knocking them both to the floor. 

Meanwhile, Deceit and Patton were in the kitchen. “So you just... mix it? That’s it?” Deceit asked, afraid of messing up in front of the resident cookie master. 

Patton nodded. “Yep!” he exclaimed. “We can also add chocolate chips if you’d like, but we don’t need to.” He grabbed the bag of chips, shaking it once while talking. 

Deceit nodded. “Yeah, let’s add those too,” he said. Patton opened the bag and poured some in. He held it out to Deceit, telepathically asking if they needed more. Dee smirked and poured nearly half the bag in. They shared a look, then fell on the floor, giggling wildly.

Logan and Virgil were playing chess in the living room. More accurately, Virgil was moving his pieces randomly across the board and Logan was screaming. “Virgil, this is not checkers! You cannot ‘jump’ my rook!”

Virgil smirked, looking Logan dead in the eye as he slowly moved his knight to the end of the board. “King me,” he whispered, cracking up. Logan let out a wail of anguish, then ruffled Virgil’s hair and ran away. 

All was well in the Mindscape. Everything was perfect. And Christmas was truly the time of year to be with the ones you love. All of them.


End file.
